Waking up felt like a nightmare.
Your face felt like it was stuffed by the bandages, and the blaring lights from the ceiling were like they were burning right into your exposed retina.
And then... There was the same old disgusting sterile scent of the antiseptics of a hospital that you were met with. Your heartbeat monitor beeped constantly to show your living form and you felt so uncomfortable with the roll of bandages wrapped all around the left side of your face.
As you got up, you sat idle. You didn't know what else to do except for recalling what had happened. You last remembered getting woken up by Shoto because he needed to use the toilet and then...
He came across Rei in the kitchen and you followed him. But before he could talk more than a few sentences, the woman tried to hurl a kettle full of boiling water at him... and you jumped in to save him.
Well, despite the fact that it wouldn't have affected Shoto much (because his left side was literally built to put up with burning hot temperatures) you didn't exactly regret your actions. You'd be damned if you let a child get burned right in front of you.
A few more minutes of sitting and recalling the previous events, and a nurse finally walked in. The moment she saw your awakened form, she rushed over to you and began to ask you how you were feeling and if you felt any pain. Surprisingly, you didn't.
But that's probably thanks to the painkillers, so it's not that big of a deal. Since they had your eye wrapped up, you weren't sure if your vision had also been affected or not. You wouldn't be surprised if you managed to get some of the boiling water in your eye too and you ended up blind in that eye.
"Well, I'm glad you're up and well. Your family had been waiting patiently to see you, you know?" You didn't, actually. Because you just woke up.
But you bowed your head and she smiled while letting you know that the doctor would be coming to check up on you and then you would be allowed to meet your family.
The said doctor came in not even 5 minutes later, sporting a gentle smile on his face as he addressed you. He also asked the same old questions of if you were feeling any pain or if you were uncomfortable.
Both to which the answers were no.
After a little while of back and forth with the doctor, the nurse from before knocked and came in. She looked nervously at the doctor while the man sighed before turning to you and giving you a tired smile, "Well, it seems like your father is way too worried to see you, huh? We'll be letting you guys talk with some privacy, so don't worry, okay? You're a strong girl, you'll heal up just fine!"
He gifted you one last smile before Enji was finally allowed inside your room and you glanced your only eye in his direction, "How are you feeling?" He started, keeping his gaze held against yours.
Meanwhile, you narrowed your eye at him in suspicion. Why does he suddenly care?
"Will you answer my or not?"
"I'm fine." Your answer came out even flater than you had expected but you weren't complaining. Keeping his eyes trained on you, the man huffed before turning around and walking out the door.
A few minutes past and you realised that that's all he wanted to ask of you. If you were okay... What the hell? Did something bite him or what? Did he really just come here to inquire about your well-being? The same man who considered you a villain?
But thankfully, you weren't left to focus on your confusion for much longer because your thought process was immediately stopped by a familiar voice right outside the door, "Young master, you should just go inside and see her. I assure you that the young miss would never hate you-"
"No! You don't understand!! She got hurt because of me! I was the one who mommy was angry at!! I was the one who mommy was gonna hurt, but [Name] got hurt instead! It's all my fault!" You could hear his muffled sobs even from across the door, and it just broke your heart.
You never wanted this poor kid to blame himself. You just wanted to protect him...
After much convincing, your family maid finally managed to get Shoto to slowly open the door to your room and peer in carefully, in order to see if you would yell at him to get away.
But to his surprise, you looked at him with a small smile as soon as he entered your vision, "Shoto... Hey!" You greeted and that was enough for him to burst out into tears.
Your maid decided to give you both some space to sort out your issues and told you both that she was waiting outside, as you urged Shoto to come closer to your bed.
The boy cried the entire way to your bed and cried even harder when you patted his head, once he got close enough.
"I'm-I'm... s-s-s-sorry! I'm s-so sorry!! So sorry, [Name]!!"
"Why? You didn't even do anything wrong." His cries never stopped as his tiny hands grasped onto your own, "B-Because it's my fault that mommy hurt you!! Mommy was angry at me, but you got hurt instead!"
Patting his head once again, you gently smiled at him, "Mom didn't want to hurt you either. She was just... scared, and started imagining things."
"No, she definitely did... What could she possibly imagine that made her hate me so much?" His eyes shined with doubt as you continued to run your fingers through his hair, "Well... think of it like this, when you go out of our room in the middle of the night, and you see Natsuo or Fuyumi in the dark... Do you get scared?"
"I-I do... But how does that-"
"But you're not normally scared of them, right? It's just your imagination that you think they're a scary person... Mom just imagined you as some scary person too, and she just ended up attacking you, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, Shoto."
"She said that my left side reminded her of dad. Does that make me like dad...?" You blinked once you heard his question, not expecting him to have listened to what Rei was talking about on the phone with your grandmother.
"No. Just because you share some of his features doesn't make you dad. You're you, and he's himself. You don't have to worry about turning out to be like him, okay?" Nodding at your words, your twin shakily wiped his tears and noticing him struggling, you raised your hand to wipe it for him.
"There... don't cry anymore. It makes me sad when I see you cry. I want you to always be happy and healthy, that's why... Don't ever think that I hate you, okay? I love you too much to hate you." He looked at you with his big, watery mismatched eyes as they shined with uncertainty.
"You promise?" You nodded with a small smile, going as far to take out your pinky and offer it to him. But your twin just stared at it in confusion until you physically pulled his hand and intertwined your pinkies, "This is a pinky promise. And a pinky promise, is a promise you can never break." He looked at you in awe as you proceeded to explain.
"How did you know about this?"
"Well, I used to–" You recalled all the pinky promises you made with [Brother Name]... including your last promise to him, that you would make it out alive, and come back to him.
You didn't realise that your mood had dampened when you recalled about your little brother, but Shoto was quick to notice it, "Y-You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!!" He quickly interjected but you just pulled yourself out of your thoughts and shook your head with a smile.
"No, it's fine... Let's just say that I really like this promise, because it holds value to me." He nodded obediently as you continued, "Now, I pinky promise you that I will never, and I mean never hate you. I will always love you, no matter what."
His eyes shined with so much happiness and relief that you were almost taken aback, but suddenly he started, "If that's the case then... I'll make a promise too! I pinky promise-" he looked over to you to see if he was doing it right, "-that I'll protect you from now on! I won't let anyone hurt you, not even dad! No matter how scared I am, I will always, always protect you! I'll be your hero, [Name]!"
You nodded gratefully at him and shook your joined pinkies together, making Shoto smile softly at the silly gesture, "There, now don't worry, okay?" He nodded once again and he finally decided to tell you that Natsuo, Fuyumi had also wanted to visit you but your father was only going to bring Shoto because he had been crying non-stop.
Hearing that he didn't mention Touya, you wondered where that white headed idiot was but didn't bother asking Shoto because you doubt the poor child would know about his whereabouts. So you just spent the rest of the time petting Shoto's head and ultimately, decided to tell him some random story you vaguely recalled narrating to [Brother Name] when he couldn't sleep.
A few more hours had passed and it was time for visiting hours to end. You noticed that Shoto had long fallen asleep, and you wondered if he would be staying in your room or if someone was going to pick him up.
Thankfully, the door opened and in came your maid, who had a pitiful smile on her face as she gazed upon your form, "Young miss, I have come to take the young master back home." You wordlessly nodded, mostly because you didn't want to wake Shoto up and also because you didn't deem it necessary to talk.
The maid wrapped her arms around Shoto's smaller body and raised him up, careful as to not disturb his sleep and you very gently removed his tight grip around your hand. Smiling gratefully at her, you nodded and she nodded back before she ultimately left.
Now that you were all alone in your room, you couldn't help but think about how this incident would affect the Todoroki family.
One thing you noticed was that... Shoto never once mentioned Rei. He was quiet when you asked him about her so you just assumed that he was just angry at her for hurting you or something but you wondered what Enji must have done to her.
You don't doubt he would have just let her be after she tried to hurt his masterpiece, Shoto. Maybe he sent her back to her parents' house? That would be plausible but for some reason, you had a sinking feeling in your chest that it wasn't that simple.
Deciding that you won't know unless someone tells you, you took a deep breath and finally lied back down. The doctor had already done his routinely check-up so you knew you could rest if you wanted.
Now that you think about it, this is the first time you're sleeping all by yourself in this life. In your previous life, you had gotten used to sleeping alone, but now... you always had Shoto clinging onto you like a kitten to its mother. If Shoto wasn't with you, you'd sleep in Fuyumi's room but you were never alone.
'Hah, I really have gone soft.'
Finding yourself unable to sleep without your usual company, you decided to just stay awake until you felt tired enough to sleep. Thanks to this, you found yourself getting overflooded by memories of your past life: your life as [Last Name][Name]. You recalled your old friends, your brother... and Nozomi.
You honestly wonder how they would have reacted upon finding out about your passing. Would they have cried too much? Knowing your lover, he probably would have fallen sick from the shock of losing you. You wonder what your brother would have grown up to be? Would he have remembered you as his loving older sister? Or would he have remembered you as someone neglectful who abandoned him to save Japan?
Did Nozomi ever find someone else for him? You hope he did. You wouldn't want him to live his life grieving in your name. You also hoped that [Brother Name] would have found someone for himself too. Maybe have a family of his own?
You would be really, really happy if that's how everything turned out...
While lying there on the hospital bed, you recalled an old friend Iyashi, who was always trying to get you to rest by strapping you to the hospital bed. You remember bickering with him everytime he healed you, but you both were really good friends.
He was the only one in the entire army who had a healing quirk; the ability to speed up the natural healing process of whoever he kissed. Not a kiss to the lips, but any type of kiss; a kiss to the cheek, a kiss to the forehead. Anything worked for his quirk to activate.
Remembering that hot-headed idiot really did make you melancholic...
————
"Iyashi!! Let me go, damn it!!" You sneered while continuously tugging your hands in the cuffs.
He had done it again... Iyashi, that bastard... he strapped you to a hospital bed again.
Keeping your glare fixed on the older male, you made sure he could feel the annoyance radiating off of you. However, despite the fact that you could very well melt the metal cuffs with ease and without injuring yourself, you decided to humour your good friend and play along with his attempts to get you to rest.
"Shut it, you crazy woman. Good Lord, you would think that at the age of 18, you would be sensible enough to take care of your own self but nooo! Your dumbass constantly needs a babysitter..." The said male, Iyashi scoffed while tapping his nails against the clear syringe repeatedly to take out any air bubbles.
"Why don't you shut it? I don't want to hear that from someone who's got a big, fat crush on his own wife. You're the one who acts like a schoolgirl in love, and you've got the audacity to call me a dumbass." The man flushed a deep scarlet at your words as he snapped his head in your direction to glare at your immensely smug face, "It's called having a healthy relationship!! And you act like you don't have a boyfriend either, damn it! Talk about hypocrisy!"
"Excuses mc'cuses, you desperate loser. At least, I don't act so lovey dovey infront of everyone and scar them with my make-out sessions, unlike a certain someone..." He felt his eyes twitch in annoyance as he began, "Keep this up, and I'm never healing you again. Have fun dealing with injuries on your own."
"Damn sore loser... Can't even take a joke..." You muttered to yourself as he began to walk away, only to stop as he sighed in annoyance, "I can hear you, damn it..."
"Whoops... Sorry, didn't mean that~" You said, completely nonchalantly and he felt himself getting irked up at your blatant lie, "You're clearly not sorry!!" You rolled your eyes at his frustrated yell.
"Jeez, you sure are insufferable... How does your wife even put up with you?"
"How does your boyfriend put up with your annoying ass?!"
"Hey, my boyfriend loves me very much!! He says I'm the apple of his eye!"
"More like an apple infested with worms, you rotten fiend..."
"A sharp tongue for a loser. How's your promotion going, you 6th rank nurse?"
"I don't know, how's your dead squad? Also, I'm a doctor, you bitch." You blinked at his jab, not having anything else to reply to that.
"Below the belt, 'yashi... Below the belt."
————
You blinked softly as tears had already begun to form in your eyes. Wiping them away, you smiled at the hospital ceiling while closing your eyes.
'Ah... I really miss them all.'